E. A. Mario
Giovanni Gaeta (1884 – 24 June 1961) was the real name of the Italian poet, writer and musician better known as E. He took the E of his assumed name from the initial letter of the pseudonym Ermes under which he wrote for the newspaper Il Ventesimo; the A came from Alessandro, the paper's chief editor; and Mario was the name of its Polish director. Gaeta composed and wrote the lyrics to more than 2,000 works in Italian and Neapolitan. In 1918, he wrote La leggenda del Piave, which at the birth of the Italian Republic was a candidate for the Italian national anthem.
E. A. Mario
Public domain
- Name
- E.
- Birth Name
- Giovanni Gaeta
- Born
- 1884
- Died
- 24 June 1961
- Full name
- Giovanni Ermete Gaeta.
- Nationality
- Italy · Kingdom of Italy
- Occupation
- lyricist · composer · poet · journalist · writer · playwright
- Languages
- Italian
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Giovanni Gaeta (1884 – 24 June 1961) was the real name of the Italian poet, writer and musician better known as E. He took the E of his assumed name from the initial letter of the pseudonym Ermes under which he wrote for the newspaper Il Ventesimo; the A came from Alessandro, the paper's chief editor; and Mario was the name of its Polish director. Gaeta composed and wrote the lyrics to more than 2,000 works in Italian and Neapolitan. In 1918, he wrote La leggenda del Piave, which at the birth of the Italian Republic was a candidate for the Italian national anthem.
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wikidata · Q2755859 · wikipedia · E. A. Mario
In this article
Biography
Biography
His other famous works include Santa Lucia luntana, Balocchi e profumi, Vipera, Rose rosse, and O' Paese dò sole.
I principali autori e poeti delle canzoni classiche napoletane. In senso orario a partire dalla foto in alto a sinistra: Salvatore Di Giacomo, Ernesto Murolo, Libero Bovio, E. A. Mario.
A ngelus · Own work based on: Salvatore Di Giacomo.jpg Ernesto Murolo.JPG E. A. Mario.jpg Libero Bovio.jpg
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — E. A. Mario • Birth Name — Giovanni Gaeta • Born — 1884 • Died — 24 June 1961
Biography
Biography
The future E. A. Mario was born to a family of modest means in the Vicaria quarter of Pellezzano, Salerno. His father, Michele Gaeta, was a barber and his mother, Maria della Monica, a housewife. The back of his father's barbershop served as the family's cramped living quarters, housing in addition to Gaeta, his mother and father, brother Ciccillo, and sisters Agata and Anna. Three aunts and an uncle occupied two further small rooms. He married Adelina, the daughter of the famous actress Leonilde Gaglianone, after a short three-month engagement. The couple were to have three daughters: Delia, Italia and Bruna. On 9 February 1916, Gaeta was initiated in the regular Scottish Rite Masonic Lodge Unione e Lavoro in Naples. In Gaeta's youth he admired the performances of the great Neapolitan actor, poet and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta. Gaeta collaborated greatly with the leading Neapolitan publisher, Ferdinand Bideri, who also produced the works of Gabriele d'Annunzio. Gaeta was destined never to become wealthy, forced by his wife's serious illness to sell the rights to all of his songs to a publishing house in Milan, from which he was to receive only a small percentage. He died in 1961 at the age of 77 on 24 June, the name day of his saint. His wife had died some months earlier.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1961
E. A. Mario died at Naples.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
E. A. Mario was born in Naples.
Birthplace
E. A. Mario died in Naples.
Deathplace
Naples.
Birth place
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- VIAF cluster 54344113 for E. A. Mario, aggregating national library name authorities.
General reference · OCLC
reference work
- “E. A. Mario”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2755859: E. A. Mario
General reference · Wikidata
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Com'è nata la “Leggenda del Piave”. ilpost.it. 24 maggio 2015.
- 2.Bruna Catalano Gaeta (1989) E.A. Mario: Leggenda E Storia, pag.57. Liguori Editore s.r.l.
- 3.Vittorio Gnocchini, L'Italia dei Liberi Muratori, Erasmo ed., Roma, 2005, p. 110.
- 4.Treccani, il portale del sapere. Treccani.
- 5.E il ministro lodò il campano Giovanni Gaeta. Corriere della Sera. 22 luglio 2008.
- 6.La Leggenda del Piave inno d'Italia dal 1943 al 1946.
- 7.Leoncarlo Settimelli. E.A. Mario: belle canzoni ma anche autocensura per Caporetto. 19 febbraio 2006.
- 8.articolo.
- 9.Franco Castelli, Emilio Jona, Alberto Lovatto, Al rombo del cannon: Grande Guerra e canto popolare, Neri Pozza, 2018
- 12.Piave. Cronache di un fiume sacro, di Alessandro Marzio Magno, ed. Il Saggiatore, 2010, pag. 18
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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